POSTGAME NOTES PHOENIX MERCURY vs. SEATTLE STORM WNBA PLAYOFFS | SEMIFINALS | GAME 2 SEATTLE LEADS SERIES 2-0

KEYARENA | AUG. 28, 2018

CRYSTAL LANGHORNE • Crystal Langhorne’s 10 rebounds were her playoff career-high as a Storm player and the fourth double-digit WNBA playoff game (three while at Washington, including a high of 15).

JORDIN CANADA • Rookie guard Jordin Canada went a perfect 4-for-4, including 2-for-2 from deep, in the first half en route to scoring 10 points. She finished with 12 points and three assists in 15 minutes off the bench.

STORM TEAM NOTES • The Storm scored 91 points for the second-straight game, equaling the team playoff record (also, 91 at Phoenix, 9/5/10).  • Seattle’s 77 field goal attempts tonight ties a franchise high (77 vs. Minnesota, 9/30/12).

PHOENIX TEAM NOTES • The Mercury’s big three of Diana Taurasi (28), Brittney Griner (23) and DeWanna Bonner (21) combined for 72 of the team’s 87 points.  • Diana Taurasi is averaging 26.5 points per game in four games in the WNBA Playoffs.  • Phoenix outscored the Storm 28-12 in the fourth quarter en route to sending the game into overtime.  • DeWanna Bonner has registered 20-plus points in all four playoff games this season. She finished with 21 on 9-for-15 shooting to go along with nine rebounds.  • Brittney Griner collected her first double-double of the 2018 playoffs with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

NEXT GAME: Seattle travels to Phoenix for Game 3 of the WNBA Semifinals on Friday, Aug. 31. Tip-off at Talking Stick Resort Arena is set for 7 p.m. PT on ESPNews and NBA TV.

Phoenix Quotes

MERCURY HEAD COACH SANDY BRONDELLO  ……………………………………………………………..  (On the game)
“Very, very disappointed. We dug ourselves a big hole again. We were very resilient getting back into the game and finally made some three-point shots. It took us until the last 20 seconds at the end to make them, but it’s a game that we should’ve won. In that overtime, being 7 to 2 fouls … couldn’t catch a break. Really, that’s what it came down to so we’ll go back to Phoenix and hopefully win a game or two there.”

(On going back to the bigger lineup this game) “We needed someone who could set more of a physical screen and Camille Little … I went through all of the post players. Camille hasn’t played for a while, but that’s what she does. She’s a tough defender, she set great screens. It was more like, ‘Go set (Diana Taurasi) a screen’ … you know she’s going to get open.’ They put so much attention on her. And (Little) did that and all of a sudden our offensive efficiency went up just by doing a real simple thing that you do every day. We’d tried everything and built ourselves a big hole at 19 so we had nothing to lose. Camille did a really fantastic job for us.”

(On how to avoid getting into a big hole at home)

“We started off well and then it kind of all went downhill from there. We just kept breaking down. With the speed, we’re our own worst enemy at times with the turnovers – silly turnovers that lead to easy baskets. The Storm in transition are hard to guard because of their speed. Sue (Bird) looks like a spring chicken out there just the way that she can push the ball. We allowed (Jordin) Canada to come off and get some easy looks there too. Then (Breanna Stewart) took over in that third quarter because we just weren’t playing her tough enough. She’s the MVP and you’ve got to play her tough, otherwise she scores multiple ways. And I thought Camille did a really good job on her in helping us get back into the game.”

(On how problematic is was with Sue Bird getting to the basket)

“It was really big, just with the speed. Right near the end she created a lot of momentum going to the rim. She’s a great passer and sees the whole floor out of it. She got some easy baskets as well. They’ll put her in some floppy action and she was just coming out and getting separations. Sue Bird is a fantastic player, but I thought we needed the right matchups on her. Unfortunately (Briann January) can’t guard everybody on the perimeter. We did a good job on (Jewell) Loyd. Obviously that was our plan going in, but Sue comes out and does that. We have to be disappointed because we can’t lose on an offensive rebound. On 50-50 balls, we’ve got to get tougher in that regard, but we’re right there. It makes it really hard now, but there are still three games. It’s a knockout game and we’ve got to go and bring our best effort. We didn’t bring our best effort for 45 minutes tonight, but we have to do it if we want to win.”         

(On Diana Taurasi in the clutch)

“She just makes big plays and she’s made it for her whole career. She doesn’t always make them, but she wants to take them. It’s a little different being a great player because not all of them want to take them, but she wants to take it and she’ll make it. She does it time and time again. She looked tired at one stage, but her heart is just so big. She wanted to keep competing and wanted to win this game. She shot the ball pretty average leading right up to the end there and then kind of got going. She’s just an amazing player. I’ve never seen anyone like her.”

MERCURY CENTER DEWANNA BONNER ………………………………………………………………………..  (On changing positions from four to wing)

“I have been there all year, so it’s nothing new. I think that Camille [Little] did a great job, she gave us another screen to get Diana [Taurasi] open. I think that it gave me a height advantage because Jewell [Loyd] was guarding me. It wasn’t anything new, just a different look. That was something that we needed because we were down 17.”

MERCURY GUARD DIANA TAURASI  ………………………………………………………………………………  (On fourth quarter play)

“You just don’t think about it. It is a shot that I have probably practiced a million times. I got a little bit of air space and it went down. It just felt good to go in.”

 (On what they did to get back into the game)

“We made a couple shots here, caused some turnovers there. They missed some shots. We were able to get into some sort of rhythm that I don’t think we’ve been able to get to in this series so far. It was a slew of things and we kept cutting the lead little by little. That shows a lot of fight from our team. I’m really proud of how we stuck together throughout the game when we weren’t necessarily playing well. They’re tremendous at home and when they get that momentum. You’ve got guys like (Breanna Stewart), Sue (Bird) and Jewell (Loyd) playing like that. Obviously Crystal (Langhorne) had a great game so there were a lot of factors and I’m just proud of how we fought. We gave ourselves and opportunity to win and sometimes it doesn’t go your way.”

(On if the last two shots in regulation went as she drew it up in the huddle)

“Perfect. Whenever you make it, you can say it went well. We haven’t been great late game all year so it felt good to execute those two plays and give us a chance in overtime. That’s a credit to Sandy (Brondello). She puts a lot of hard work into those late-game situations.”

Seattle Quotes

STORM HEAD COACH DAN HUGHES …………………………………………………………

 (On the game overall) 

“Game of a lot of runs. Luckily, I think we had something in the overtime that a lot of teams wouldn’t have had. When you lose a lead like that, that’s a shock to your system. Phoenix can really score, and I’m watching some of the action, and they are scoring in tough plays. But for a team to lose the lead, go into overtime, and regenerate what we had to do, you got to applaud that. That was not easy.”

(On Phoenix making late runs) 

“A lot of it is [Diana] Taurasi, to be honest with you. I think it’s her ability to impact the game and find space and opportunity to finish. I think it’s us understanding how hard it’s going to be at this stage, against quality teams like this. You get the lead, you probably relax a little bit, and then all of a sudden, they start to get it going. You could see it. This shot goes in, this shot goes in, then this shot goes in, so they get momentum and all of a sudden, the momentum has changed. I think it’s a growing process for us, every game we are trying to learn something, this experience for this team is about understanding what we are learning.”

STORM GUARD SUE BIRD …………………………………………………………………………..

 (On overtime play) 

“Just take a deep breath. Obviously, we were disappointed to have been in that situation. Emotions can run high and you can be upset, but we all just took a moment and Noelle Quinn came into the huddle and said, ‘this is the playoffs, it’s not supposed to be easy’. I think that we were all just able to reset once she said that.

(On Jordin Canada’s play) 

“It was huge. Historically, if you look at teams that have won, they have great player, but it is always that unsung hero that comes in and plays well and gets the team the win. It was the same for Phoenix, Camille Little came in and hit a jumper and played great defense and that really helped them. You know what Dianna [Taurasi] is going to do, and I think that the same goes for our team, so when we have someone come off the bench and play the way that Jordin [Canada] did, and inject some energy into us, and hit all of her shots, it’s huge. It is really what got us going in the right direction. At first it was a back and forth game, and Jordin really changed the momentum in our favor.”

(On fourth quarter offensive play) 

“They say that in playoff basketball you have to be able to execute. I think that in both games when Phoenix has made those runs at us, we have just relaxed a little bit. I think that what we do well offensively is move, we share the ball, we are constantly cutting, we have five threats at all times, that is where our strength lies. When we relax, we end up standing and when we do that it is much harder for us to execute what we are trying to do, and we don’t get the shots we want. It is less about our offense and the actual X’s and O’s of it, but more about how we are running it. We can’t let how the other team is doing dictate how we play.”

(On Dianna Taurasi’s play in the fourth quarter) 

“It sucks to be on the opposing side of that type of play. I have seen her do it many times as her teammate. Particularly in Russia, I have seen her just single handedly, do exactly what she did in the fourth quarter. In some ways it is almost impossible to stop, in other ways, as an opponent, I have to think of ways to stop it. Once she gets in that zone, it is really difficult. I knew that the series was going to be tough no matter what, I didn’t care what their seeding was, I didn’t care if they were tired because they flew across country, I knew that it was going to be a grind, because we are playing against Dianna [Taurasi]. What relaxed me a little bit is that, it’s the playoffs and if you’re going to play in a championship, you have to go through the best. And Dianna is the best.”

STORM FORWARD JEWELL LOYD ………………………………………………………………..

 (On having a young team)

“Both games were so different. We had the lead in both games, but found different ways to win. I think that we are just trying to find ways to win. It helps when you have the veteran players here to help us younger players figure it out.”

STORM FORWARD BREANNA STEWART ………………………………………………………

 (On playing against Camille Little) 

“I think it changed the match up a lot. DeWanna Bonner was playing the four most of the game, so the way we were guarding ball screens was a little different. When Camille [Little] came in, she is a physical tough defender. I knew from previous games she was going to be physical with me for the entire time, and she was, and she made it difficult and it is something that I have to be ready for in game three.”